Sticky Fingers Can’t Resist Summer Streets Art

One of the 50 signs installed for Ryan McGinness’ temporary public art project ‘Signs,’ is pictured Thursday on Lafayette St. in SoHo.

From the moment they went up throughout Manhattan three weeks ago, the edgy but still official-looking red-and-black signs provoked a mixture of curiosity, bewilderment and delight from passersby.

But the most widespread and dramatic reaction to the official Department of Transportation art installation has been, apparently, theft.

The vinyl-on-metal signs by artist Ryan McGinness were installed on sign posts and traffic lights at five “rest stops” along the route of the weekly Summer Streets program, when the city shuts down about 7 miles of roadways for recreation.

But just days after the signs went up, most had been stolen, the artist and transportation department officials said.

“I saw that these went up a few days ago, and then they were all gone, and now they’re up again,” said photographer Daniel Albanese, who first noticed the lean, oblong signs at the corner of Spring and Lafayette Streets. “Street art is stolen a lot.”

A light pole on Lafayette Street stripped of one of Mr. McGiness’ signs is shown on Thursday.

Kevin Hagen for the Wall Street Journal

But for the artist, the swift removal of 40 of his 50 works not only flattened his initial enthusiasm for the collaboration—it shook his faith in the notion of public art.

“When I caught one of the first few disappearing I was mildly amused,” Mr. McGinness said. But once it became clear the majority had gone missing, “It felt a little more aggressive. It made me just plain angry.”

The original installation “didn’t last more than three days,” he said.

With their stark lines and color palette, the signs mix the authoritative tone of official transportation iconography with fanciful elements such as unicorns and sea monsters, as well as more abstract patterns that call to mind the Dutch wax prints of West Africa.

Two workers from a transportation department sign shop in Maspeth installed the signs, but 40 appeared to be stolen, an agency spokesman said. The agency is working with the New York Police Department on the matter and replaced 12 of the signs—changing up the installation method. In all, the signs cost about $800.

“Some of the signs are apparently missing and we are updating the exhibit to provide a greater Summer Street experience to all New Yorkers,” a department spokesman said.

The signs that remain, and those that have been replaced, continue to inspire a range of reactions.

One of the remaining signs is shown in Foley Square Thursday.

Kevin Hagen for the Wall Street Journal

Some pedestrians at Astor Place barely surface from their smartphones long enough to notice, and few office workers in suits in Midtown seem inclined to care. Near Manhattan’s civic heart in Foley Square, the signs blend in with the official signage, whereas in SoHo, they are merely splotches in a sea of street art.

“We’re just imagining, what could it be?“ said French tourist Olivier Dupis, 48, of the sign at Spring Street. “It’s philosophical.”

Others are less enchanted.

“It’s weird,“ said Dr. Maria Sanchez of a fish-headed man depicted in one of the signs along Foley Square, though she said it fit so well with its surroundings that had the sign not been pointed out to her, “I wouldn’t have seen it all.”

“My customers don’t care about it, “ said Halal cart owner Mansy Abtelmana, who first noticed the signs near his East 51st street spot last week. “Nobody asks at all.”

Though many signs have already been replaced, it is unclear whether they will last longer than their predecessors

“There’s a lot of expense involved, and a lot of labor,” Mr. McGinness said. “To have an individual steal them or to have them stolen by the public really flips that mind-set.”

Workers install “Signs,” a temporary public art public art installation by Ryan McGinness.